Overhead Lift trolley system under $300.

Member

I only have a two-car garage and limited space, as I am sure a lot of us are in the same boat. So this is what I did to set up an overhead trolley system while keeping the cost down. Items you will need are as follows.

Locate the area you want to set up the trolley (I set mine up in the center of my garage for removing the body from my car)

Attach 2X4X20" between the two wall studs at the top, middle, and bottom to attach 6"X6".

Use the lag bolts to attach the 6X6 to the 2X4 (Ensure that you measure the distance between the floor and ceiling, then deduct the thickens of you I-beam first)

Now call all of you buddies over, be sure not to tell them what your planning or they might not show, or find an AC duct lift. Now lift you metal I-beam on top of your two 6X6 beams and then using the (8) 3" lag bolts attach the I-beam to the 6X6

Attach your Trolley to the I-beam and attach your chain hoist and there you have it. Cheep but effective!

I set mine up in the center of my garage in order to remove the body of my car by myself in order to work on my frame. I can remove the body and slide it out of the way while I work on the frame. Then I am able to roll it back over the frame when I am done and put all of my items removed from garage back in.

Member

It doesn't look like a lot of room for a chain hoist between the trolley and car, has that caused any issues? Cool setup for a home shop.

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I haven't had any problems, it is kind of tight. I will have to lower the jack stands once I get my frame notch kit in to put the body back on. I can then raise the jack stands back to ride hight when I am done.

Member

It's not just rep, it's real. Ive had China casting break in my garage. Not safe!

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Yeah I am leery with the HF stuff now. A long time ago I was using their pipe bender, and it snapped under a load and shattered my wrist. I stopped using a lot of their tools after that.

Anyways, thanks for sharing this. I have a shop, but I already feel very cramp. I was thinking about doing something similar to this for an engine hoist since I don't really have the room to store a cherry picker.